Internal combustion engines (ICEs) rely on the combination of fuel, spark, and an intake of ambient air to create a combustion event that repeatedly moves pistons in a way to forcibly rotate a crankshaft. Fuel and spark is introduced into a combustion chamber at one end of a cylinder within which the piston moves reciprocatively. As fuel and spark are delivered to the combustion chamber in the presence of ambient air, combustion occurs and forces the piston away from the combustion chamber thereby converting that force into rotational energy through the crankshaft. The power of an ICE can be increased for a given quantity of fuel and spark using the forced induction of ambient air into the combustion chambers via turbochargers as is known. In the past, turbochargers included an exhaust turbine and compressor turbine that were mechanically linked via a common shaft. Turbochargers receive exhaust gas from the ICE that rotates the exhaust turbine, which transmits that rotation to the compression turbine compressing air ultimately introduced to the intake of the ICE.
Turbochargers successfully compress air that is introduced to the intake of the ICE, but effective levels of compressed air may only be generated at elevated revolution-per-minute (RPM) levels of crankshaft rotation. It would be helpful to introduce compressed air into the intake of the ICE even when the ICE is operating at relatively low RPM levels. Turbochargers can be equipped with electric motors that are coupled to the compressor turbine and are able to rotate the turbine across a range of throttle positions for the ICE—even at lower RPM levels. However, the inclusion of electric motors with a turbocharger involves additional challenges that may not exist for non-electrically-actuated turbochargers. For example, the electric motors can be controlled by electrical components that are sensitive to heat. Yet turbochargers often operate in a high-heat environment. Moving the electrical components away from the turbocharger and connecting them to the electrical motor can help keep them cool but this increases cost and complexity. Keeping the electrical components simultaneously cool and nearby the turbocharger can be challenging. Further, the orientation of electrical components relative to each other on the PCB can consume significant area on the PCB and also affects performance of the electric motor of the turbo. It would be helpful to orient the electrical components to minimize space consumption and increase electric motor responsiveness.